“We can pick this up later if you want,” Raven said playfully.
“No, I’m here for you,” her friend said, rearranging herself in her seat.
“You’ve already helped, babe. Go have fun.”
Her friend hesitated but ultimately said, “Okay, love you. Text me if you need anything.”
“Love you too, and hi, Tony.”
The camera swerved to her friend’s boyfriend, whose usual serious expression appeared for a few seconds before the screen went black.
Now alone in her room, Raven studied the deed. She’d given working at Mountaintop her best try. It wasn’t for her. And with that acceptance, an immediate peace filled her. She’d get her money and return to the city with more options than she’d ever had.
The next morning, when she arrived at the cabin for her final day, she found Bodie, Doc, and Halo talking in the break room.
“Have you guys seen Silas?” she asked during a pause in their conversation.
“In the shed, I think,” Doc replied, and Raven decided to wait for him in the kitchen and mark the end of her time at Mountaintop with one last cup of mediocre coffee.
It somehow tasted better than it ever had.
“You look chipper today,” Halo said with no real curiosity. It was simply something to say.
Over the week, the older woman’s attitude had changed from outwardly hostile to bored regard. And God, it felt good to know that today would also be the last time Raven had to deal with it.
“I’m leaving,” Raven told them. “Today’s my last day.”
The soft buzz of fluorescent lights above was the only sound left as everyone grew still and fell silent.
“You signed the papers?” Halo asked tentatively.
“Yeah, I just need Silas’s signature, then it’s all his.”
Raven expected some expression of glee from the older woman—a clap, a cheer, a “good riddance,” but it was Bodie that broke into a grin and said, “Oh, shit. Halo, that means you lost.”
Doc elbowed Bodie’s side, and the smile on the buff man’s face dropped as his lips clamped together.
Raven, confused, asked, “What does that mean? Lost what?”
No one answered her at first, but Raven let the silence stretch as she surveyed the three of them. The men averted their eyes. Halo did not.
“We had a little wager going, that’s all,” the older woman said.
“A wager?” Raven asked, her heartbeat taking up a quickened rhythm. “On what?”
“It was all in good fun,” Halo said, her nonchalance dimming as she seemed to notice Raven’s unease.
“Okay, but what was it about?” Raven asked again.
After moments where Halo must’ve been contemplating what to say, she replied, “How soon you’d leave.”
“And who won?” Raven asked, but she didn’t need an answer this time because she knew. She fucking knew. And it pissed her off that a bunch of strangers had assessed her and decided what she was and was not capable of.
Silas chose that moment to walk in. The air was tense, but he didn’t feel it and gave a casual “How’s it going?”
His self-assuredness tipped Raven over the edge, and without hesitating, she retrieved the signed bill of sale from her bag and ripped it in half.
“I’m great,” she said. “Excited for the day.”
